Challenges faced by artist in Midlands (An Interview with the late National Arts Council of Zimbabwe Midlands Administrator Thandekile Zozi in 2007)

Today we will share the discussion that was made in 2007, with the late Thandekile Zozi, (Midlands National Arts Council (NACZ) administrator, about the challenges artist faces in displaying their artifacts in the Midlands province. This interview was conducted by Caven Masuku and was broadcasted at Midlands State University.
Mrs Zozi discussed with Caven Masuku the former “Business Express Newspaper” senior reporter , who also maintain the arts and entertainment news column in 2007. Zozi indicated their plans to address these challenges to assist the Midlands province artist to improve their products.

Q. Mrs Zozi could you please give us your background for the benefit of our listener

A. Well my full name is Thandekile Zozi, the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe Manger in the Midlands Province. I used to be a high school teacher in 1987-1989 after completing my studies at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ). From 1989-1995 I worked as a literature Bureau Editor. In 2000-2001 I once worked as an Editor at Mambo Press. I used to edit both English and isiNdebele books. I left Mambo Press in 2001 and joined the NACZ as the Arts Manager in the Midlands Province.

Q. Mrs Zozi how are the artist performance in Midlands Province?

A. There is not real much at the moment because we do not have full time artist who are devoted school leavers with nothing to do and think they can do art to while up their time. They are just but few who are devoted and who know exactly what they want in arts industry.

Q. Mrs Zozi why do we not have an Art Gallery Center in Midlands province?

A. Thank you so much Mr Masuku, that’s a good question especially to the NACZ as an art oriented organization. That is the government duty my brother! Perhaps what I can say is that Gweru is unfortunate as compared to other cities. Harare, Bulawayo do have arts Gallery Center. I do not know why not Gweru! Probably since there is military museum the government would have seen it not necessary to build one. Nacz as an art oriented organization realized that and at one time we approached the former Gweru mayor Sesil Zvidzai, but no response was given. Artists went in person to the former mayor and were promised to be shown the site up until now nothing has materialized. An art center will be a good move to the Midlands artists. This will enable them to show case their products. In Zvishavane which is part of Midlands they have a craft center for the artist and this was built through the money donated by the German embassy. I wish Gweru if they could to have a similar art center. Zvishavane Center is well established and is an ideal place to work with the artist. I have requested the Gweru City Council to give us Gweru Theatre as an art gallery Center, which has been turned for church services, instead of arts but they refused.

Q. Don’t you think that Midlands Artists are short changed for not having such facility that can improve their artistic prowess?

A. Yes! What you are saying makes sense and is true somehow. Well artist are disadvantaged since they do not have a place to display their talent Artist should have the place of their own to operate in. Gweru theatre is more central and convenient and only if we can get a place that is central, that will be a stride to the Midlands artist.

Q. Have you got any plan as an organization to construct an art center in Gweru?

A. Oh! Yes! If the City fathers give us the site, but again as I said before the government is the one that should carry such project not NACZ

Q. In Gweru do we have sculptors and painting artist who match the international standards?

A. Yes we do! Coaster Mkoki have won several international awards. He is a sculptor and uses stones and scrape metal. As I am speaking he is in South Africa for exhibition. Tapfuma Gutswa from Shurugwi is also good and is in Austria for exhibition. Forbes Muchipe who does wood curving and frames has won several regional and international awards. Gutsa does his art with his wife they are all good.

Q. What other challenges are faced by the Midlands artist?

A. Most artist so far in Midlands, particularly in Gweru are immature and they do not realize that art is a career. They spend most of their time waiting for programs from the NACZ office yet NACZ is just there to assist and to facilitate financial needs of them. Zimbabwean public are not buying public art products, in fact the foreigners are the ones who do consume these products.

Q. What do you think should be done to address those challenges?

A. There is need to educate artist and that is upon themselves to take art seriously. Again NACZ have a task to facilitate workshops. Exhibitions will enable artist to meet each other and share ideas. Exchange programs like residence also will assist artist to decide their destiny and creating relationship and networking in the arts fraternity.

Q. Social, political, cultural and economical, how does artist contribute the economic turn- around of Zimbabwean economy?

A. What is not art? Art touches every sphere of life. They is need to do research and to document them about the arts products that embodies the above mentioned aspect. From my history arts and music contribute immensely to our economy .Artist should start gearing themselves towards 2010 South Africa World Cup. A certain sculptor from Mvuma area entered NAMA competitions submitted a sculptor which glances 2010 football world cup competitions to be conducted in South Africa.

Q. what other activities should be done to ameliorate arts industry in Gweru particularly and Zimbabwe in general?

A.Zimbabwe publics do not appreciate art as an industry. Art is looked down upon as a degraded profession and is regarded as for the uneducated. One Shona term used to tell the whole essence is “ROMBE” meaning poor. Artist themselves carries this label by appearing scruffy. Not knowing that business people like dealing with trustworthy, respected and well representative individuals. Trust is build through appearance. Artists do not bath themselves and stinks and they are perceived as the uncivilized in the society. Apart from that most artist from Gweru are skilled but lacks anxiety to showcase themselves and their art facts. It is my wish for Gweru to have a gallery like Amakhosi .

Q. what are your views in introducing Arts in the education curriculum?

A. Actually some schools around have started art as a subject. Though at the moment it is rife to the primary schools. They are need to recognize that art is more than drawing and singing. Midlands State University (MSU), under the faculty of social sciences offers a degree in musicology which is good. It is not always the case that people should be academic to become artist. Anyone can assimilate and accommodate artistic skills and there is no need to practice “bottle neck” system for inert art ability. Art creates employment. Cecil John Rhodes does music and art from grade one right up to grade seven and writes internal exams set by their teachers. Mkoba secondary school teaches arts and music from Form one to Four as well as Mkoba 3 Secondary, which currently have six classes for music and four classes for arts. Many schools have shortage of teachers for music and arts.

Q. what other programs have you been assisting Midlands artist to cultivate their talent(s)

A. We facilitate for a place/ stand for exhibition on their behalf at the Midlands Show ground. In addition, we organize the intershops at Zimbabwe International Trade Fare (ZITF) in Bulawayo, as a marketing strategy for them. We also organize regional workshops for them to places like Botswana, Swaziland, Namibia, Zambia and South Africa. We also facilitate residence programs, processing passport for the NAMA competition held out of the country. We also organize local competitions that are held annually which are meant to promote artists and art industry in Zimbabwe. At the moment this effort is not appealing to artist, but hope that it will be appealing very soon.

Q. How is your relation with the media in an attempt to improve the art discipline?

A. Our relationship with the media is super at the moment. We work at close hand and they assist us to publish our programs in their papers. The Times, The Business Express and the Zimpapers have given us space several times to place our material in their papers. This enables us to reach our rural audiences especially in remote areas. However, we are craving for more coverage from Zimbabwe Television (ZTV) that it is at national level and other electronically media such as the local radio stations. Currently I will safely say that electronic media is letting us down and we need their support to reach wide audiences especially in rural areas. Another problem encountered so far by NACZ is that we have no offices in rural areas. This is supposed to be a field work yet we are always confined in the office. How would we talk to the custodians of our culture, our elders who are in rural areas? I wish if NACZ provides more resources to buy cars for travelling and acquiring offices in rural areas. It is and has been my wish to be out there gathering information from rural folks.

Telone Seeks U.S.$700 000 for Satellite System

Harare, Mar 25, 2009 (The Herald/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) --
TELONE is battling to secure US$700 000 to pay Global Connect that operates the satellite linking system that enables the country to enjoy Internet access. In Zimbabwe most institutions especially the higher learning institutions like University of Zimbabwe, National University of Science and Technology, Midlands State University and so forth faces a sever challenge in accessing the internet service.
The bandwidth of all higher learning institutions in Zimbabwe needs to be improved. To suffice the capacity of these universities a broad bandwidth has to be installed.

International satellite organization such as International Telecommunication Union (ITU), politics the satellite parking space. All developing countries are undermined in fear that if they get that allocation the developed world will lose monopoly. The claim that the development of first world countries is the underdevelopment of third world countries by Rodney become a reality

The US$700 000 is part of US$1 million that TelOne had incurred as payment for the linking system. One wonders how TelOne can improve their service delivery, given the rogue behavior of the International regulating board.

Our media are underdeveloped and can not go global because of the international regulating board like ITU. This impasse can be traced as far back as during the time of NWICO debate. NWICO debate was a flaw because the developed countries failed to honor their promises. Our media is trailing behind because the developed countries enjoy such a drawback

TelOne as the custodian of the system had fallen behind in terms of
payments. Zimbabwe faces severe economic crisis which by no means cannot, even if they wish to settle the debts they owe the international regulating community.

As a result of the arrears, internet access within the country has been erratic despite the fact that the internet service is one of the most preferred choices of communication in the country.

The matter came to light during a meeting between the Minister of
Information and Communication Technology Nelson Chamisa and the
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries held last month. It is everyone hope that our Minister honorable Chamise will improve the plight of communication technology that haunts the Zimbabweans in every sphere of live. We cannot communicate effectively because of such challenges face by the entire country of poor communication infrastructures

Female Personal

In our daily mundane lives it is sometimes difficult to find someone that we can share our lives with. This fact is especially true with the sophisticated career woman of today.

There are a multiplicity of things that these women have to juggle that they sometimes leave romance out of the equation. They have the options of letting well meaning friends and family set up dates for them. In some cases these dates work quite well, and in others there is no magic. The other options that are open for women are dating services.

Just like other personals these can be found in newspapers and on the internet. A look through your favorite search engine will provide you with a number of female personals that you can go through. Before you try this option keep in your mind exactly what you are looking for in a partner. Do not dive right into a new cyber relationship without giving this idea some serious thought.

You need to remember that just like a real date you are meeting someone for the first time and you have absolutely no idea of what type of a person they are. Therefore you should take things nice and slow, get to know the other person well. Do not give out detailed account for your home, office phone number and home address. The best thing that you can do is to wait until you are both sure that you are ready for a public encounter. By public I mean a place where there are a lot of people around you both.

Until that day comes you might want to keep your options open and meet some other people. This way even if you do not find romance you will have made some new friends that you can talk with. Female personals will let you create a brand new persona that will intrigue the people that comes into contact with you.

This is a good idea especially if you are unsure about yourself. With a new persona you can slowly explore the real you that you have hidden because you are not sure if it goes with society. By letting your alter ego talk and answer your female personals you get a chance to screen out the various incoming mail and see if there are any that appeal to both sides of your self.

Those wishing to join Social Services

Social service is a field that requires an individual who can interact with people. To socialize need one to be good at languages. Language is the tools to get work done and can be viewed in different dimension. In Zimbabwe to be a good social worker one have to be effective, efficiency and proficiency in English, IsiNdebele, Shona and other languages.

Again the need for one to be able to come up with good ideas and being creative and original with words, art, music and dance create a unique character in this field of work. Art’s subjects at advanced level assist anyone to fit well in social services. Some people have the inert ability to perform certain duties in life. However, despite having this in-born talent one needs to nurture it with academic pursuance.

Moreso, in social services one should be able to see the past as relevant to the present. The fact that we live in a structural world, which needs comparative approach, can never be undermined or under estimated. Articulation and being able to teach people is a prerequisite in this field.

Social workers should be good at relating to people and to understand different social background, which people carries around with them. Also a free outgoing character is a must. This enables a social worker to be easily consulted by others about personal problems. The person must be good at helping solve personal problems, even at personal level.

Above all, an ability to get others to work towards a common goal is salient especially if one is working for a certain organization. Teamwork spirit and strong public relation enables work to be done smoothly

Good Communication in a relationship

Communication is one of the main ingredients to a beautiful and healthy relationship. To communicate is to exchange your thoughts, feelings, beliefs, critiques and other comments with another person. Without having such an exchange, a relationship will live in silence and soon drown in that silence, until there is no longer any kind of connection between the two of you. This is one of the biggest reasons a relationship ends and also a reason why some are lead to making bad decisions.
Good communication is not just about being able to talk, but being able to listen. Being a good listener does not just mean waiting for your turn to talk, but really taking in the words your partner is sharing with you. As you receive those words, you should also understand the emotions in those words and the body language that goes along with them. If you do not pay close attention, you might miss the meaning in the words that are being said and the body language that is being presented with them.
Constant defensiveness is another way to lack good communication. If you or your lover constantly get offended by what the other says, then either one of you are not choosing your words too wisely, not listening very well, or not respecting each other? opinion. All three of those are communication no-nos. If you tend to get defensive as an instant first response, make an effort to stop and really listen to what your partner has said to you. Hearing and listening are different. If you only hear, you can turn those words into anything your mind tells you to, but if you listen, you will really understand the meaning your partner had behind those words. If you have a defensive partner, help him or her by asking them what offended them so much. Repeat your words and explain what you meant so they can get a better visual.
With good communication skills on both of your parts, your relationship can be stronger than you ever hope for!

Public Relations Professionals

Public relation is an interesting profession which needs a person who is sociable, well articulate, and good in handling language both spoken and written. The Public Relation profession is there to create the image for an organization and the public, and should have a Janus face.
A Janus face means that while PR in any organization should communicate the policies and other important messages about the operation and objectives of the organization, he should simultaneously communicate back to the organization about the views of the public towards an organization. This is a two way process which should be kept flowing.
Language is one important vehicle that needs to be handled with care in order to achieve maximum respect in this field. We do things with words be it written or spoken. As a public relation professional, language should be use as a maximum benefit for both your organization and the public. People who did arts subjects at advanced level, especially English Literature are the best to be trained as public relations professionals.
All individuals were born with a talent of convincing and driving people through words. It is with words that one can cause the public to sympathies, sulk, trust, and again lose the customers. Just the way people dresses themselves, they should dress heir language for professional purposes.
People who have been in journalism like me have strong public relations and can serve the organization well if placed in public relation post. Marketing skills and advertising another fields that journalist are taught about are the salient aspect in the public relation field.
In Africa public relation is a profession that is not taken serious as compared to developed countries. Yet it is important for such post to exist in all business and can contribute immensely to decision making. Public relation can be placed in the Executive management depending on the structure of the business. It can also fit well in the decision support system of any given organization since they interact with the public, other organization and with workers.
In short public relation is communication that serves the image of an organization and leaves it in a resounding state. All channels of communication should be kept open and infinity for health communication within an organization to take place. Organizational policies should have the biases of public relation and an “open door” policy should be encouraged to ensure effective communication. Public relations should foster top-down, down top and side communication to flow smoothly